Life and Consequences
by LadyStina
Summary: Inuyasha and Kagome are newly mated. After cleaning up loose ends in Kagome's time, they head back to the past to continue the quest for jewel shards and defeating Naraku. Being mated shouldn't change the team dynamics that much would it? And why is Kagome sick all the time? Takes place immediatly after A Future Push of the Past. Inu/Kag with some Mir/San.
1. Chapter 1

Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters listed below. They all are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

A/N: This follows immediately after my previous fan fiction, A Future Push of the Past, that can be found in my profile. It is highly recommended that A Future Push of the Past is read before this story. Several scenes will also coincide with another previous fan fiction, The Great Mom Detective, also in my profile.

Just a note: due to the upcoming holidays the updates for this story may be slow in coming. But I'll never give up, and never surrender. By Grapthar's Hammer, this story will be finished.

Important recap: Inuyasha and Kagome are newly mated with unknown help from their future selves. Their future selves also have bugged Kagome's backpack with spy cameras in a desperate attempt to, in some way, see their old friends again. And now, on with the show!

Life and Consequences

Chapter 1

Kagome snuggled up in the warm embrace of her very own hanyou. Inuyasha had his arms wrapped around her holding her close and his head buried in her neck right beside her new mating mark. Every time he breathed on the sensitive skin, she had to stop herself from shivering in delight. When he decided to gently lick the mark, she couldn't hold back the shiver or her moan.

'_I don't know if the human body was made to handle this much sex…'_ she pondered. She had long ago lost count of her activities with Inuyasha's youkai side and then his hanyou side after they got all that pesky talking out of the way.

Pressing needs was urging Kagome to get up however and she couldn't ignore them forever.

"Inuyasha?" she asked softly.

He opened his eyes and gave her a gentle and very rare smile, "Yeah, wench?"

"I need to get up." He reluctantly opened his arms, and she crawled out of bed. "I'm going to the bathroom, then I need to get something to eat. You hungry?"

"Keh, of course."

She laughed, "Of course you are. I think I'm gonna cook something. I feel like something a bit more substantial than ramen. And yes, I'll still fix you a bowl on the side," she said before he could protest. She threw on her robe, "Be right back."

Inuyasha watched her walk out of the ruined doorway. He frowned at it and cursed his youkai half. What else did that maniac destroy? It was a good thing that his relationship with Kagome wasn't one of them. If anything, it got him closer than he probably ever would have himself. He knew his pride, or his mouth, would have gotten in the way and he still knows that now she will face a harsher life than if he never mated her. She doesn't seem to care though, so he would just have to try to make her as happy as he can.

He got up and decided he would use the bathroom and clean up a bit when Kagome got finished in there. As he walked across the room to collect his clothes, he caught sight of himself in the mirror and froze. He approached the mirror and stared intently at his face. He had jagged purple lines running across his cheekbones, and he wasn't anywhere near to turning full youkai again. His pack had told him about them, but this was the first time he had ever seen them. Not including the ones that had appeared on Kagome. He ran his finger along one of them and didn't feel any difference in the skin texture. It was just like his skin was a different color in those two lines.

He eventually shook his head and backed away from the mirror. There wasn't anything he could do about it now. He stooped to gather his fire-rat, then paused. That powder or dust or whatever he had gotten exposed to may still be on the garments. The last thing he wanted to do was turn youkai again.

"Oi, Kagome!" he yelled down the hallway.

He heard the noisy-bowl flush and water running for a little bit. Then his miko emerged from the water room.

"Yeah?"

"I think these clothes need washed. I got into some fucking dust and it made me fucking transform. It could still be there."

"No problem, I can put them in the washing machine downstairs. I'll find you something to wear while they're washing."

He nodded and found her scarf from her shredded uniform. He carefully checked the uniform for blood to make sure he didn't scratch Kagome while he was out of his mind. Seeing none, he dropped it back on the floor and tied the scarf around his head so he wouldn't inhale more of that dust. He gathered up his discarded clothing and went downstairs.

Meanwhile, Kagome entered her mother's room and found some clothes that her mom had bought in case Inuyasha wanted to blend in while in their time. Kagome knew how stubborn her hanyou was, so she had never brought it up. She grabbed the bag and headed downstairs.

Kagome met Inuyasha at the bottom of the stairs and giggled a little because he was still naked except for her red scarf across his face. "This way," she said cheerily as she led him to the utility room. "Ok, just drop in the reds. We'll wash the whites next." Nodding, he did as she asked and dropped the whites on the floor. She added a powder, closed the lid and moved some knobs. Soon there was the sound of water filling the machine.

"There we go! And here you go," she added as she handed him the plastic bag. "Mama bought these for you a while back but I know you're attached to your fire-rat and you usually don't leave the shrine so we held them as 'just in case' items."

"You… your m…mom bought clothes for me? She…she shouldn't have. She could have used the money for something else," Inuyasha replied with a stunned look on his face.

Kagome gave him a puzzled look, "It's no big deal. Just a couple pairs of pants and a few shirts. Maybe also a pack of underwear, I don't remember."

After hearing that, Inuyasha's eyes widened a bit more.

Kagome continued watching him, then had an idea, "I think we're doing that culture-clash thing again. Tell me what you're thinking. What does this mean to you?" she asked softly. Hopefully her hanyou hadn't actually hit his word quota for the week because this was an odd reaction.

He blinked at her and realized she might be right. She wasn't acting like it was a big deal at all and she said that they had the clothes for a while now.

In a questioning tone he started, "Kagome, clothes are expensive. Most people only have one or two outfits and there's a good chance they're used. My mother was the only person who ever gave me clothes, my father's fire-rat in fact. And you just said your mother has bought me at least two outfits. I…I don't deserve that…"

Kagome nodded. It was just as she thought, culture-clash. "Ok, A, yes you _do_ deserve nice things, Inuyasha. More than a lot of other people, in fact. And B, clothes are not as expensive or as hard to come by as they used to be. I promise you, we spent more on medical supplies and ninja food this month than the price of the clothes in this bag. And if you want more clothes, we'll get some more clothes and you can be the richest hanyou on your side of the well."

Inuyasha pulled Kagome into a hug, "I'm already the richest hanyou on my side of the well." Then he leaned down to kiss her.

Before the kiss could get too heated, Kagome pulled away. "I need food, remember? Here," she reminded him as she put the bag of clothes into his hand. "Let me know if you need help with them."

"Keh."

She smiled as she went into the kitchen to fix something to eat. As she walked to the refrigerator, she noticed the clock on the wall said it was after five. She froze as she remembered about her history test she was supposed to have taken that day. Instead she had stayed in bed with her historical hanyou. Granted she had a better time at home than she would have had at school. Doubly so since she didn't get any studying done the night before. Well, she didn't study _history_ anyway… She would just have to talk to the teacher tomorrow and see if he would allow her to take a make-up exam.

She just sighed as she continued gathering cooking supplies. Inuyasha came into the room then and Kagome nearly dropped the spatula she was holding. He looked _hot_! He was finally in a pair of blue jeans and Kagome was overjoyed at the result. The red T-shirt he was wearing was probably a size too tight and looked painted on him. It really showed off all his muscles. He blushed at her scrutiny.

"Keh."

"Oh, sorry! Do they fit ok?" Kagome asked as she shook herself out of her daze.

"Alright, I guess. Are they supposed to be this tight?" he asked while tugging on his shirt.

She walked over to him with a semi-serious look on her face. "Well, the shirt might be a little small, but it looks good. The jeans look like a perfect fit." As she said the last bit, she reached around and groped his bottom. Inuyasha's eyes widened and she smirked, "Yup. Perfect." Then she walked off like she hadn't done anything special. Inuyasha just watched her, then shook his head.

After a hearty supper (Kagome hadn't eaten since breakfast the previous day and she was starving!), the couple mostly just cuddled and watched some television. They chatted some and kissed occasionally all in all just enjoying each other's company until Kagome decided it was time to go to bed. She got up, put Inuyasha's clothes in the dryer and headed up to her room. Not long after that, she was bringing all her bedding downstairs to the utility room also.

The next day Kagome got up and got ready for school and hated to leave her hanyou's arms. She noticed she was running low on uniforms again. All of her adventures in the past was hard on her wardrobe.

She showered and ran downstairs for breakfast. Inuyasha made ramen again for her and she gave him a huge smile, "Thanks, Mate. I love you."

Inuyasha instantly blushed. He was still not used to all the newness of being mated and showing or receiving affection. "Keh," he replied softly.

"How long do we have until the guys come back?" she decided to change the subject while she devoured her ramen.

"Sango expected four more days for the repair and for travel."

Kagome shot him a look that Miroku would have been proud of, "So I get you for four more days before we have to go back? Nice." She finished her breakfast by drinking the ramen broth, looked at the clock and muttered something about running late, then dashed out of the kitchen.

"Inuyasha, why won't the front door open?" Kagome called from the door. Inuyasha followed her voice into the living room to see if he could see the problem.

"Don't know. Looks ok. Maybe you should go out the back?" She nodded and started heading back towards the kitchen and the back door. "Oi, wench! You gonna be ok going to school with that purple on your cheeks or do you need to hide it?"

Kagome gasped, "I forgot! I didn't even pay attention when I was brushing my hair. One sec!" She rushed up the stairs to her bedroom. When she came back, the markings were gone. "How's that?" Inuyasha just nodded. She came over and gave him a heated kiss. "That's for you to think about. There'll be more tonight." She grinned and walked out the door.

He just shook his head and followed her to make sure she made it to her friends all right. Once he caught up with her, they walked down the shrine stairs hand in hand. When they reached the bottom, they kissed again.

"Have a good day, Bitch," he said softly.

"You too, Mate," she returned with a smile. Then she turned and headed off to school.


	2. Chapter 2

Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters listed below. They all are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

A/N: Brief Lemon Warning

Chapter 2

Kagome was used to weird. You don't fall down a magic time-traveling well and become friends with, and fight against, mythological creatures without accepting a little weirdness into your life. That's to be expected. But today was definitely tipping Kagome's weirdness meter. She would rate today a seven, possibly an eight, and when you consider her baseline for comparison, that is saying something.

First, Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi thanked her for buying all their food at WacDonald's after school yesterday. Kagome knew damn well that she was doing the nasty with her mate before, during, and after school hours yesterday and was nowhere near WacDonald's. Not to mention she never carried that much yen on her anyway.

Next, she opened up her notebook to start taking notes during her first class. As she flipped to find the first clean page, she stopped. The notes in front of the clean piece of paper were dated yesterday. It was even in her handwriting. She didn't recognize the material, but she wouldn't anyway even if she did write it. Lately school was mostly cram, cram, cram, test, and forget. Rinse and repeat. Curious, she flipped the notebook open to her other classes, and continued to see notes that were taken yesterday. She even caught some doodles in the margin of one set of notes, something she had a bad habit of doing. Below the doodles, was the words, "hehehehe, Hi, Kagome!"

Finally, when her history class rolled around, the teacher began passing out the tests from the day before. When he got to Kagome's desk, she was about to ask about the makeup test when he handed her a piece of paper and said, "Good job, Higurashi," before heading to the next student. She blinked in surprise and looked at the paper she was holding. It appeared to be the history test from yesterday. It was in her handwriting, had her name and yesterday's date at the top of the paper. And there was a big red 98 in the top corner. She read some of the questions and had no clue what they were talking about. Yet somehow, she had passed the test. With a score she hadn't gotten since shortly before she first fell down the well.

After class, she went to check the mirror in the bathroom to make sure she had her mating mark on her neck. She pulled down her collar, and sure enough, there was the kanji for Inuyasha right where it was supposed to be.

'_I'm going crazy. I remember having wild, passionate love with Inuyasha all day yesterday, but it looks like I was in school… If I call Inuyasha, would he answer the phone?...' _As she was thinking, she began to absentmindedly rub her mating mark. She suddenly felt a wave a pleasure wash over her. She stopped rubbing at her mark, but felt another wave. And then another. She wanted Inuyasha there right now. If he was, she would take him right on the bathroom floor. Maybe he would answer the phone and meet her on the roof at lunch.

Kagome asked to borrow a cell phone from a classmate. She knew there would be too many questions if she borrowed one of her friends' phones. Once Kagome got the phone, she called the shrine hoping her technology-challenged hanyou would remember what that noise was and answer. She rubbed at her mating mark while the phone rang in her ear. Another wave of pleasure washed over her and the other end of the line was picked up.

"Inuyasha," she gasped, "That you?"

"Kagome?" Inuyasha answered, his voice sounding far away. He was either holding the phone in front of him or upside down. He could hear her either way, and that's all she needed.

"Inuyasha, meet me on the roof of the school, ok? I need you."

"Right. On my way," he replied and she heard the sound of the phone drop. She hung up and handed the girl back her phone.

"Thanks again!" Kagome said cheerfully. She waved, grabbed her bag and started heading for the roof. She could blow off the next class, it was almost lunch anyway.

She sat on a secluded corner of the roof near a storage area and was waiting for her hanyou. Occasionally, she would rub her mating mark and a moment later pleasure would wash over her. She finally spotted a speck of red and white approaching along the rooftops. She stood up as he got closer. In no time at all, he landed beside her then drew his sword.

"What is it?! What happened?" he demanded as his eyes scanned the roof for danger. She blinked.

"Huh?" she asked intelligently.

"You said you needed me, so where's the trouble?"

Ahh, she knew what happened now. He's never been called unless it was for a fight. She rubbed her mating mark again, and he shot her a disgruntled look.

"The trouble is me, Inuyasha. I've got an itch and I need you to scratch it for me," she said in a sultry tone of voice.

"Wha…what?" he asked, trying to catch up.

"I need you in me. Now," she continued. To emphasize her point, she shimmied out of her soaked panties from under her skirt. He continued to stand there, so she approached him and began to undo the ties on his hakama.

"Please, Mate. I need you in me. I need you now," she continued. She had finished undoing his ties and his hakama dropped to his ankles.

Inuyasha growled, dropped his sword and wrapped his arms around his mate. His lips captured hers in a devouring kiss pushing her backwards until her back hit the wall of the storage room. All the while, her hands were busy tugging on his fundoshi. Just as they rose up for air, she had loosened his wrap enough where it fell to the ground.

"Bitch," he growled.

"Your bitch," she whispered back. At that, he lifted her and impaled her on his erect manhood. They both groaned with pleasure and she wrapped her legs around him. Using the wall to brace her, Inuyasha began plunging in and out of Kagome. They were passionately kissing each other until their movements got too rough. Soon, he was slamming into her and she was crying out with every thrust. It wasn't long before they both reached completion and yelled out each other's name.

They were panting heavily and just holding on to each other. Kagome smiled up at him, "Thanks, Koi. I _so_ needed that. Thank Kami you answered the phone," she said as he slid out of her. It seems like he only tied to her when he was full youkai.

"Feh, what do you expect when you play with your mating mark like that?"

Kagome frowned a bit, "What do you mean?" Instead of answering, Inuyasha backed up some and showed her his mating mark. Then he rubbed it. She instantly felt a wave of pleasure similar to what she had felt earlier.

Kagome blushed as the implications dawned on her, "Umm… sorry… I didn't know I was doing that to you…"

"Keh, it's alright. I'm surprised we didn't discover that earlier though," he replied as they both went about adjusting their clothes.

"Well, we _were_ busy," she replied with a giggle. Then she suddenly remembered her mystery notes, "Weren't we? I was at home with you all day yesterday, right?" Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at her and nodded.

"Thank you. I just needed to know I wasn't going crazy. I have notes that are dated yesterday. And apparently I took a test and went out with my friends at WacDonald's. But I wasn't here yesterday…"

Inuyasha growled, "Sounds like a shapechanger. Buncha troublemakers."

She slowly shook her head, "I dunno... Don't they typically _cause_ trouble though? Whoever this was helped me out."

"You sure? Everything they wrote down could be wrong and get you in trouble later if you rely on those notes. If you give me those papers, I may catch a scent on it."

"Great! Thanks, Inuyasha. That will make me feel better. Let me dig those out." She turned to her bag and with a grin that Inuyasha couldn't see, she bent over at the waist while looking through her backpack to purposely give him a panty shot. She heard all movement behind her stop and she smiled a little wider. She grabbed her notebook and turned to face him.

"Here you go," she said. Inuyasha took her notebook with a heavy dusting of pink on his cheeks. But then he put his serious face on as he flipped open her book and started sniffing the pages. After flipping through it a couple times, he shoved it back into Kagome's hands.

"Show me. I just smell you in there." Kagome turned to pages until she came upon the notes that she didn't take.

"Here. I didn't write this," she said as she handed him the notebook again and pointed at the offending page. Inuyasha took the notebook once again and sniffed the page Kagome indicated. He frowned and sniffed it again.

"I'm not getting nothing," he grumbled as he scented the paper for the third time. "I just smell you on here."

"Huh. That _is _weird. Oh well, I guess I'd better be getting back to class."

"No, I don't think so, Kagome. If there's someone messing with you, you're not going back there."

"Inuyasha, you can't keep me from going to school! We've discussed this!"

"Feh, that was before someone started fucking with you. I can't protect you if something happens while you're walled up in there."

She wanted to yell at him that she didn't always need his protection, but that was one of the few things she would never say to him. Instead, she gave an impressive inu-hanyou-like growl, "I _need_ to go to school!"

Inuyasha opened his mouth to continue the yelling match, then suddenly closed it and got a puzzled look on his face. "Why?" he asked, all arguing tones instantly gone from his voice.

"What do you mean, 'why'?" Kagome replied, still in the heat of the argument. "I _know_ I've told you why before."

"Yeah," he said, still calmly. "You said it was to prepare you for the future and to get a job and stuff. But…" he trailed off and blushed. After swallowing a lump in his throat and looking away he continued, "…your future is with me now, right?"

And with that, all the anger rushed out of Kagome. "Oh, Inuyasha, of course it is!" she exclaimed as she hugged him. "I know we haven't talked about any of this, but what if the well closes and we're stuck on this side? If that happens, I would have to have completed at least middle school. It's just a back-up plan, ok?" Now it was Kagome's turn to blush, "I…I was always planning on staying in the past with you… if you would have me…"

"Feh…" Inuyasha said while a little flustered. Then continued softly, "When I told you I need you with me, I meant it, Kagome." He began thinking about their original argument and continued in his normally gruff manner, "Get your stuff, Wench. We're leaving."

"Inuyasha, its fine! Nothing is going to attack me at school!"

"Keh, you don't know that. Something has already been impersonating you and it can imitate your scent! You're not getting out of my sight, wench."

"Well you can't just sit outside the window while I'm in class! I'm three floors up!"

"Feh, yes I can. If I can jump to the roof, I can certainly jump _lower_ than that." Kagome just sank her head into her hands his statement and groaned.

"That's…that's not what I meant," she moaned out while her head was still buried in her hands. She lifted her head and continued, "I meant that people would find it strange to see someone sitting outside a third story window without any obvious means to get up there."

"Well then, you're not going back until I'm sure it's safe," Inuyasha stated firmly.

"And how will you determine that?! If I left it up to you, I'd never attend school again!" Kagome noticed that Inuyasha had his stubborn face on. This had the potential to be a bad argument. She took a deep breath and decided to come up with a compromise. "How about if you either stay up here or in the tree near my window? Would that work for you?" She gave him a suggestive look and continued, "And I could come up here during my lunch break."

Inuyasha blinked and then blushed as what she said registered. "Keh!" was the only thing he could get out.

Kagome gave him a brilliant smile then a quick kiss in thanks.

"But if I even _think_ something strange is going on, I'll bust through that window and take you away before you can blink," Inuyasha said firmly. He wasn't happy about letting his mate stay in a potentially dangerous situation without him next to her.

"Deal. I'm going back to class now. See ya after school!" She grabbed her bag and rushed towards the stairs. Right before she hit the door, she called over her shoulder, "And stay hidden, ok?" Then she was gone.

Inuyasha was impressed that he got through that disagreement without getting osuwari-ed. But then again, Kagome still got her way and went back to school. Well she had another thing coming if she thought he _wasn't_ going to keep an eye on her. With that thought, he headed towards the edge of the roof to jump to the tree that had the best view of Kagome's classroom. Only a few more days…


	3. Chapter 3

Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters listed below. They all are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

A/N: Lemon Warning

Chapter 3

A few days later and it was _finally_ the morning of the day they were going to go back through the well. Not that Inuyasha minded when it was just him and his mate alone in the house, but Kagome insisted on spending half the day in that school place. That pretty much left him sitting in the tree outside her classroom while she took notes. Occasionally she would start to doze off and then Inuyasha had fun by throwing pebbles softly against the window. If she insisted on going, then she sure as hell wasn't going to waste the time by sleeping through it. Nobody else reacted to the pebbles hitting the window, but Kagome jumped every time like the letch had just goosed her. He supposed that was because she knew he was out there watching her and was nervous about him being seen. Stupid 'modern' era. At least in his time he could be himself even if he was hated by the majority of the people there.

Inuyasha pulled a sleeping Kagome closer to him while they were lying on her bed. It was still early and he was enjoying the feeling of their bare flesh pressed together too much to wake her up. He buried his nose in her neck near her still-fresh mating mark and inhaled. He had a mate. He was still trying to wrap his head around it. As much as he wanted to think someone could one day love him, he had always believed that it was just a fantasy. Who would want to sully themselves with a filthy half-breed after all? Apparently there was at least one girl from the future that would do so willingly. And also with his monstrous youkai half. Kagome would probably never cease to amaze him. Now, it appeared that never had actually extended to 'never,' as opposed to 'when she comes to her senses and leaves me to return to her time forever.' At least he hoped so. After the last week they shared, he never wanted to be apart from her ever again.

Without even thinking about it, he began to kiss and lick Kagome's neck over the kanji for his name. He would never tire of her taste or the noises she could make. Speaking of noises, Kagome had started to moan as she began to wake up.

"Mmmm…. Inuyasha…." He smirked and let his fangs run across her sensitive skin before mixing in little nips with his licking and kissing routine. One of her arms raised and her hand searched out his ear. She began rubbing his ear in time with his nuzzling. After a moment, he started making a contented growling sound deep in his chest. This was something he was amazed to discover that he could do. The first time he had ever produced this noise was during the last week with Kagome. He still didn't know if it was something that he could have always produced if he had ever felt this content before or if it had something to do with the apparently permanent purple crests on his cheeks.

He brought one hand up and began kneading one of her breasts while the other hand slowly crept down to caress her slick folds while still giving loving attention to her neck and making that strange growling sounds that he discovered he had no control over. Kagome gasped and arched her back at the continuing wonderful sensations. Soon, he found her nub and starting rubbing it and slipped a finger inside her and began pumping. When he did that, she threw her leg up and over his to give him more room. He smirked and slipped in a second finger. Before too long, she was gasping and moaning as she drew closer to her climax.

He didn't let her reach it now though, he drew his hand away and whispered in her ear, "Ready, Bitch?" She turned around in his arms and gave him a searing kiss while her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Inuyasha…" she moaned when she pulled away for air. "Yes, oh Kami, yes," she answered as she adjusted herself beneath him. He rolled himself on top of her and gave her another deep kiss while he positioned himself at her entrance. He was aching to join with her and knew that this might be their last chance to be together for a while. Who knew _when_ they would get some privacy in his time. When he pulled away from the kiss to let his mate get some air, he started to sink into her moist opening. When their hips met, he just stayed there for a moment reveling in the sensation of being one with his mate. He looked into her beautiful brown eyes and allowed his love for her to shine through his own amber orbs. He still wasn't good about saying the words, but he hoped Kagome would realize that he loved her more than anything.

He started giving her small little kisses all over her face and neck before pulling back and thrusting into her. Once he found a rhythm that they both seemed to enjoy, he simply watched her face. It was enchanting to watch the emotions flicker across Kagome's face. _He_ was giving her that pleasure, and no one else ever would. If someone so much as _thought_ about touching his Kagome in that way, they would end up with missing body parts. Vital ones. Like their head.

"Harder. Faster," Kagome commanded from under him, bringing his thoughts back to the present. He gladly complied. She knows what her human body can handle, and he was always holding back to keep from hurting her. Once he realized that their relationship had changed, he had decided that he would always let her set the pace.

Her eyes widened as he must have hit a sensitive spot somewhere deep inside her. He tried to repeat his thrust to hit it again, but must have missed.

"Har-der, In-u-yash-a, har-der," his mate panted. He clutched the bed on either side of her to help gain some leverage and pounded into her harder. He didn't even notice when his long claws punctured the bedding. He was beginning to break a sweat and his vision narrowed down to his bitch under him. She had her eyes scrunched up and was continually making more and more incoherent noises.

"Mate," he growled out, and thrust even harder into his bitch. His mate gasped and opened her eyes. He gave his bitch what felt like a feral grin as he thrust again.

Her eyes roamed his face then gasped out, "Your mate." The noise his bitch made was barely coherent, but he thought he understood. He buried his face in her neck to get close to his mark on her neck. His bitch was making those pleasurable noises again, and he started growling and moving faster as he felt himself tightening. He gave a final few thrusts in her tightening walls and then he released his seed into his bitch. At the same time, he bit into the mating mark again to strengthen their bonds. His bitch gasped and screamed what might have been his name as she reached her own high.

He removed his fangs from her shoulder and began licking up the little bit of blood that escaped and to help his bitch's wounds heal faster. He moved his hands to her legs and helped his bitch to wrap her legs around him. It would injure his bitch if she tried to pull away while they were tied together.

"Kagome," he growled in a voice he barely recognized as his own. He knew his mate liked it when he used her name for some reason. He leaned down and gave her rough kiss. She reciprocated and allowed her hands to creep up and rub both his ears. He closed his eyes and lightened up on the kiss, but still kept it deep and passionate. He heard himself make that rumbling noise again. Before too long, he opened his eyes and pulled away to allow Kagome to catch her breath. The odd pressure he felt where they were joined together had also lessened. That was new.

When he pulled back, Kagome opened her eyes also. When she looked into his face, her eyes widened a little bit.

"You're back!" she exclaimed.

"Huh? Wha?" Inuyasha was confused. He hadn't went anywhere…

"You transformed," she explained.

"I…I did? When? Are you hurt?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm fine. You transformed while we were… when you was giving me my wake-up call."

Inuyasha tilted his head to the side and looked at her funny, "Are you sure? 'Cause I remember all of it… I think…" He went to pull away from her, but her legs tightened around him holding him in place.

"Wait a minute, Inuyasha. We're….we…we can't separate yet," she trailed off with a mumble and bright red cheeks.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why not?" he asked, confused. There had never been an issue before pulling out after he had released.

"Umm…" If Inuyasha didn't know better, he would swear that she blushed even deeper. "You see, when your youkai is out, we kinda… umm… get… you know… stuck…" She said the last part while her hands covered her face.

Inuyasha had a blank look on his face while he processed what she just told him. Then his eyes widened in shock, "You…you mean…I…I…" She knew what he was trying to ask, so she just nodded. He groaned and lowered his head to her shoulder to hide in her hair since he couldn't get away from her for the moment. "Kami, just how much of a freak_ am_ I?" he moaned.

"Inuyasha, you stop that this instant," Kagome commanded in a stern tone of voice. "You are not a freak, nor are you filthy or unclean or any of that nonsense!" Her tone softened, "You are my beautiful protector, my wonderful friend, and my hard-headed mate. I love you for _you_ my unique and wonderful hanyou. One day, I hope you can love yourself too because you are a wonderful person, my love. Your entire pack sees it or none of them would have stayed around."

Inuyasha kept his head buried but felt his heart soften just a bit more for his fiery miko mate. He was also touched that she referred to their little group as a pack. That was the way he always referred to them in his head, but he always tried to play up his human-side to make the other humans more comfortable with his presence. Maybe…maybe he didn't have to try so hard if they really accepted him like Kagome thinks they do.

"Keh," he finally replied and nipped her on the neck. She giggled and he pulled back to look into her face.

She was smiling up at him, "There's my beautiful hanyou," she whispered.

"Keh, stop that," he replied without any heat while his cheeks got slightly red. "So…um…when can we move?" he asked embarrassed. Even though _he_ was the one keeping them together, _she_ currently had more knowledge about it. How embarrassing…

Kagome wiggled a bit causing Inuyasha to groan in pleasure. She giggled and replied, "I don't know, maybe another 15 minutes or so…"

Inuyasha tried to remember her era's timekeeping terms and was coming up empty handed. "Is that long?" he asked as he gave up.

"No, not too long," Kagome replied and tried to think of something he could relate to. "It's about the same length of time it takes us to gather firewood and get a campfire started."

He nodded and smirked, "From now on, use the phrase 'one campfire' when talking about that amount of time."

She laughed, glad to see that he was out of his little funk, "Ok, Inuyasha. Just for you."

He smirked, "I like the sound of that. You should do more things 'just for me.'"

She smiled, "Oh please. If I told you the amount of stuff I do 'just for you,' you'd get a big head and be insufferable to be around."

"Feh!"

"So, Inuyasha…" Kagome started in an 'I'm about to change the subject' tone of voice. "Do you know why you transformed?"

Inuyasha actually thought about it before replying, "I don't really know, Kagome. Like I said, I think I remember everything. There don't appear to be blanks in my memory like there usually is. I…I think my thoughts became more instinctual, but that's not all that unusual… I..I remember not being able to understand you too well, but I also put that down to what we were doing… I just don't know…"

"Hmm, ok. Maybe this is a good thing. If you transform in battle, you may have some control next time."

"Keh, I'd rather not lose my sword to find out."

"Well, you never know…" Kagome replied.

"Feh," Inuyasha replied, not wanting to talk about this anymore. But there was something that he had wanted to talk to Kagome about before they went back. Now time was running out since they planned on leaving this morning, so since they were stuck, he decided to bring it up now.

"Hey Kagome?" he started. She looked up at him questioningly. "When we go back, take that flesh-colored face-paint you have to use on your cheeks. We can tell the pack," it was nice to use that word in conversation! "about us mating, but it wouldn't be a good idea to let the villagers know. Especially in strange villages. We don't need them turning on us because of you bedding a youkai." His voice turned sad towards the end as he remembered the way his mother was treated because of him. He didn't want Kagome to go through that if he could help it.

Kagome's eyes were searching his face then she reached some decision, "Ok, Inuyasha. For now I will hide the marks of my love for you. You're right in that we need help from strange, possibly prejudiced, villages to find jewel shards and Naraku. And it would be wise to keep the facts that we are mates from Naraku because that makes me even more of a target than I already am. But I want you to know that I am _not_ ashamed of them and will only hide them on the other side of the well because you asked me to. I love you, and I don't care who knows it."

"Keh, are you done with the mushy stuff yet?"

Kagome laughed, "And _there's_ the 'mushy stuff' limit. I honestly thought we hit that a while ago. One more thing while we're talking, I think this will have to be the last time we make love until after my period. We don't want to get me pregnant while we're hunting Naraku."

"Feh, don't worry, Kagome. I can tell when you're in heat and know enough not to get you pupped just now."

"Well, that's handy… Not that I would mind having your children, it's just that now is not the right time."

"Keh."

Kagome smiled and wiggled again. Then she unwrapped her legs from around Inuyasha, "Ok, I think you can pull out now."

The day was slipping away from the newly-mated couple. Inuyasha had wanted to be through the well shortly after sunrise, but his libido had taken over. Then they needed showers. Then it was lunchtime. And now Kagome was hurrying to throw everything in her yellow backpack that she could possibly need. Schoolbooks, changes of clothes, toiletries, medical supplies, ninja food, lots and lots of ramen… She sighed as she was feeling rushed.

Suddenly, she heard her lover yell at her from downstairs, ""Oi, Wench! Hurry up! The humans are waiting on us!"

"I _am_ hurrying! And I'm human too, you know!" she yelled back. She ran to the mirror to apply the make-up she promised Inuyasha she would wear before throwing it in her bag.

"Feh! Could have fooled me the way you… Oi, your family is back!" was yelled back. Oh no! She really hadn't wanted to face her mother just yet. She was still getting used to the thought of being mated. How could she possibly tell her mother that she was practically married? She was only sixteen! She grabbed her bag and ran down the stairs to try to provide some interference and to get them out of the house.

She entered the kitchen and suspected that she was too late as she saw her mother and noticed that her hanyou was blushing heavily. "Hi, Mama! I thought we were going to miss you entirely. We were just about to head out again," she said as she started edging towards the back door.

"Oh, no you don't young lady," Mama replied firmly. "You're going to sit right here and tell me what happened to my front door." Her tone brightened then, "And then I imagine it will be close to supper, and I insist that you two stay for that. I can't in good conscience send my daughter and her…" Mama paused and shifted her eyes to Inuyasha for a split-second, "…friend into battle without making sure they have at least one decent meal in them."

Kagome sighed and crept towards a chair to sit down. Inuyasha also sighed.

"I did it," he said softly with his head was down and his ears were very low on his head. His posture was slumped and he looked defeated. He was already feeling bad about himself and his youkai-side, and now Mama brought up the damage his youkai-side had caused to the house.

Kagome blurted out, "But it was my fault! I can explain!" to take any potential heat from her fragile mate.

"Kagome, don't…" Inuyasha started before she interrupted him.

"Mama, we had gotten into one of our arguments, a bad one," Kagome started with a believable lie. "We were yelling at each other as we walked to the house. When I got inside, I slammed the door on him and then yelled, 'osuwari.'"

"GAH!" Inuyasha yelled as his subjugation beads lit up and slammed him to the floor. Her mother's hands flew up to her mouth as she gasped in alarm.

"Kagome, why?..." Inuyasha whined as he was stuck to the floor.

"Oh, Inuyasha! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" Kagome jumped out of her chair and ran to his side.

"Kagome!" Mama exclaimed. "That is a terrible thing to do to the boy you… you're friends with! You need to take those things off of him!"

By this time the spell had released him and Inuyasha was standing up, "Keh. Don't worry about it," he muttered.

Kagome stood beside him slightly teary-eyed, looked into his eyes and grasped the rosary, "Mama's right. That's no way for me to treat my ma-ahhh….. friend," she covered her near slip-up. "I should have removed them a long time ago."

Inuyasha grasped her hand and looked back into her eyes, "Feh, leave them alone, Wench. They've come in handy a couple times."

"But…"

"We'll talk about it after we kill Naraku."

"If you're sure… sorry…" Kagome replied softly.

Mama clapped, startling the other two. "Well, now that that's straightened out, how does steak sound for dinner? And Kagome, you will stop using that rosary, right?"

"Yes, Mama…"

"Ok, dears, run along. I'll let you know when supper is ready." Kagome knew that she had been outmaneuvered, so she squeezed Inuyasha's hand and nodded to her mother. After that, she took Inuyasha upstairs to her room. They wouldn't be able to do much with her mom in the house with them now and with her bedroom door busted.

They would need to hide his purple markings from her mother though. With that thought, she pulled out her desk chair and gestured for Inuyasha to sit down.

"What?" Inuyasha demanded.

"Have a seat so I can put this makeup on you."

"Feh, you're not gonna paint my face, wench!"

"Look, if I have to hide my markings on your side of the well, you're going to hide yours on _my_ side. Now _sit down_," she nearly growled at him.

"Feh!" Inuyasha replied, but he _did_ sit in the chair Kagome pointed to. She grabbed her foundation and hoped that their skintones were close enough so that the makeup would not be obvious on his cheeks. He had his arms crossed and tucked in his sleeves with an expression that was nearing a pout on his face. She put some foundation on her fingertip and began lightly dabbing his cheeks. She was just about finished when she heard a sigh from her doorway.

"So, another argument? Or was it the same one?" Mama asked as she pointedly looked at the door hanging off its hinges. Inuyasha flushed and looked away while Kagome quickly straightened and brought her hand holding the makeup bottle behind her back and laughed nervously.

"Umm, it was the same one, Mama… I'm surprised that more things weren't broken…" Kagome said nervously while lying through her teeth. Mama gave her the 'I-think-you're-lying-to-me-but-I-can't-prove-it' look, making Kagome squirm a little bit. But there was _no way_ she was going to tell her mother that Inuyasha was in a youkai state of mind and was hunting her down to mate with her and he wasn't going to let little things like _doors_ get in his way.

"Kagome, did you get all the supplies you needed? I'm about to run to the store," Mama suddenly asked and thereby changing the subject.

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief, "We still have plenty and didn't have to buy anything else. There was enough in the supplies you keep for me in the pantry."

"Ok dear, I'll be back in a little while," Mama replied as she turned to leave.

Once Mama was out of sight, she bent back over Inuyasha. He leaned away from her a bit. She snapped out, "Keep still!"

"It smells!" was snapped back.

"Tough! And stop squirming!" she griped as she applied her finishing touches. "There, all done." She muttered when she was finished. She put the cap back on and stashed the makeup bottle in her bag.

"Think we should tell her?" Inuyasha asked quietly.

"I…I don't know… It's not that she doesn't adore you. The Kami knows she's been going on about puppy-eared grandchildren since before I even _realized_ that I loved you. I'm just too young in this time to be getting married, or mated as the case may be. I just don't know how she'll take it. Can…can we tell her later?..."

"She…she _wants_ 'puppy-eared grandchildren'? I must have mated into a crazy family. And here I thought it was just you." That earned him a hit on the shoulder and he grinned at his smiling mate. "Poor, scared little miko," he continued, "She can stand up to my asshole brother and the most evil presence known to Musashi, but is afraid of her own mother."

"Damn straight," Kagome replied, nearly making Inuyasha laugh at her unexpected use of profanity. "None of that is as scary as Mama can be."

"Feh," Inuyasha scoffed not believing her for a minute. There was no way that sweet woman could possibly be scary. But then again, Kagome could be scary sometimes and she was _usually_ pretty nice.

Kagome woke up groggily. She didn't have Inuyasha's warmth pressing up behind her and for a moment that worried her until she remembered that her mother was home and they decided not to tell her about their current relationship status so they slept apart like they used to.

Her stomach was roiling. She thought that maybe if she continued lying on the bed, that it would settle down. She had been so hungry last night that she actually had a second steak along with all the sides her mother had fixed. Maybe her lunch was skimpy and her body wanted her to make up for it.

Then again, maybe that second steak had been a terrible idea! Kagome bolted out of bed like it was on fire and ran down the hall to the bathroom. In the back of her mind, she registered Inuyasha's shocked face and him running after her. She just had time to slam the door and kneel over the toilet before dinner came up for a visit.

She heard a soft knock and Inuyasha's voice softly ask, "Kagome, you ok?"

Kagome threw up again and groaned. She managed to gasp out, "Not really…" before groaning again and flushing the toilet. Kagome felt immensely better after that had left her system and rinsed her mouth out with some mouthwash.

"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" she heard Mama asking through the door.

Before he could answer, she slid the door open, stepped out and said, "I'm fine! My stomach was just a little upset, but nothing happened. I think I just ate too much last night."

"Are you sure, dear? You could stay if you're getting sick," Mama continued.

"Nope! I'm fine! Come on, Inuyasha, let's get ready to go back," Kagome said as she grabbed Inuyasha's hand and dragged him back to her room.

Once they reached her room, Inuyasha stopped allowing himself to be pulled along and placed one of his hands against her forehead, then placed it against his.

"You're not hot," he muttered.

"I'm fine, now. I just ate too much last night, I guess. Let's just go. I don't feel like being mothered right now."

"Are you sure?" he asked softly. "We don't need any weak, sickly humans slowing us down," he continued with a wry smile so she would know that he was joking.

"Feh, I'll be sure to give the monk your message," she replied in a terrible Inuyasha impression.

He smirked at her, "Bitch," he said softly with a look in his eyes that melted her heart.

"Your bitch," she replied just as softly and reached up to kiss him. Before she could make contact, he held her back.

"Oi! Go do something about your breath." She glared at him, then realized that he was probably right and clamped a hand over her mouth. She whirled and went to the bathroom again to brush her teeth and continue getting ready for their trip through the well.

Once she was done, Kagome and Inuyasha grabbed a quick breakfast, waved goodbye to her mom, and made their way to the well house. In a surprising move, Inuyasha scooped up Kagome into his arms and gave her a long, lingering kiss. When he pulled away, he smirked at her.

"That's better," he said and kissed her again before jumping into the well with Kagome cradled in his arms. The lights of the time slip enveloped them as they traveled from one era to another.


	4. Chapter 4

Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters listed below. They all are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

Chapter 4

The lights from the time slip faded and Kagome looked up to see a clear blue sky overhead instead of the ceiling of her family's well-house. Inuyasha took a deep breath to clear the stink of the other time period out of his nose and to inhale his mate's lovely scent. Inuyasha cradled Kagome a little more securely, then jumped out of the well. Once he landed, he set Kagome down on her feet and grabbed her bag from her.

Before they even faced the direction of Kaede's village, they heard a high-pitched cry of "Kagome!" that was followed by an orange blur. Inuyasha reached out and grabbed Shippo by the tail before he could barrel into Kagome. Once the momentum was halted, he gently tossed the runt into her waiting arms.

"Watch it!" Inuyasha snapped. "You could hurt someone like that."

The red-headed fox demon kit replied by sticking his tongue out at Inuyasha and then ignoring him while he turned his attention to Kagome. They started some inane chatter about the trip to and from the taijiya village. Inuyasha ignored their conversation as he followed them to Kaede's hut with his arms crossed and his normal gruff countenance.

'_That runt needs more than just a bop on the head, he's getting more and more unruly. I'm gonna have to have a talk with Kagome. No pup of _mine_ is gonna_…' Inuyasha stopped his chain of thought and looked at his mate carrying the kit and walking happily in front of him.

'_Wait… "_my"_ pup? Where the hell did _that_ come from?! I don't think of the kit as mine! But Kagome does, even if she's never said the words. It's pretty obvious that he's her pup. And we just mated, so I guess he _is_ my pup too.'_ Inuyasha actually stopped walking as that thought hit him and allowed it to soak in while the two people occupying his thoughts got further ahead of him.

'_I…I have a pup, a fox-demon kit, but still… and a mate… I have a _family_…_' he thought in wonder. He had stopped believing that he would have either over a hundred years ago. He glanced at his family again and saw a couple young humans come up and greet them. The guy was dressed in black and purple monk's robes and the woman was dressed in a simple pink and green kimono. Both noticed him and waved in his direction.

'_And friends… I…I have more than I _ever_ thought I would have…'_ His resolve hardened as he recalled why they had all started traveling together in the first place. '_We're going to get the jewel shards and then tear Naraku a new one. There is _no way_ he is gonna tear this away from me! They're _mine!' he actually growled in his thoughts and his eyes flashed red for a moment, even if he didn't notice.

Inuyasha glanced at the position of the sun and saw that it was still plenty early enough to get a move on. No need standing around here jabbering when their feet can work at the same time as their mouths. Noisy humans. He headed towards his pack to persuade them to get moving. But first things first.

"Oi, Sango," he got the taijiya's attention, and silenced the chatter, "you get your weapon fixed?"

"Yes, Inuyasha, I was able to repair Hiraikotsu. Good thing too, the village is running out of parts for me to scavenge. I hope I won't have to make any more repairs until we can replenish some of the supplies. I also grabbed the last of the stink pellets and the potions. The next time Kagome has to travel home, I think I'll attempt to make some more."

"Keh, remind me to go with her then. That shit is putrid. Let's go." He replied as he started walking along the road that would lead them out of the village. Behind him, he heard the others scramble to get their stuff and follow after him. He kept one ear trained on them to make sure he wasn't walking too fast for them to be able to catch up. Once they all grouped up, he would pick up the pace.

Inuyasha trained his other ear and his eyes on the villagers that they passed. He usually ignored the gossipy humans in Kaede's village, but he had a mate to protect now and it was vital that he make sure that she was safe. He had generally felt unthreatened in here, but he could always make a quick escape if the general mood turned sour. Kagome didn't have that luxury unless he was nearby to grab her. About the only thing he heard was along the lines of "Looks like they're off again." One person mentioned "the hanyou's group," but there was no hostility behind the words.

He was quickly out of range to eavesdrop on random villagers and heard his pack hurrying to catch up with him. It was kind of hard _not_ to notice with the bouzu's shakujo jangling with every step he took as they attempted to catch up with him. Soon the ruckus died down and the shakujo was ringing in time to Miroku's casual stride. Inuyasha glanced back and saw his pack walking close behind him. He caught Kagome's eye and gave her a slight smirk. She lightly blushed and looked down a bit. He smirked a little wider and turned back to the road.

Sango was busy talking to Kagome and didn't notice, but Miroku had witnessed the quick exchange. He had realized a long time ago that Kagome-blushes only appeared when he said something particularly perverted, as a misunderstanding, of course! Or when their socially-stunted companion had recently been particularly caring, or unintentionally sweet. Since he wasn't talking, and the Lady Kagome blushed after sharing a look with their dog-eared leader, he would bet on the latter. This morning's leg of the journey just might prove to be entertaining after all!

Miroku smiled and gradually picked up his pace so he could catch up to their surly hanyou. The best time to tease Inuyasha was in the morning after they started their trip. He couldn't just leap off into the covering foliage when he got embarrassed. Miroku might earn a bump or two on the head, but a wondering monk's life was full of trials. How else would one reach enlightenment after all? Miroku saw one of Inuyasha's ears twitch as he approached, and knew he was detected. He smiled a little wider and sidled up next to his friend.

"So, Inuyasha…" Miroku began with a sly undertone slipping into his voice. "I noticed that you came through the well with Lady Kagome. We also could not locate you yesterday upon our arrival in Kaede's village. Did Lady Kagome permit you to stay with her overnight?"

"Keh! What's it to you, bouzu?" Inuyasha snapped with a light pink dusting on his cheeks.

'"_Bouzu" already? I must have touched on something for him to skip right over "monk." Hmm…'_

"Why, Inuyasha! You misunderstand! We were merely concerned about your whereabouts yesterday. While it was a good guess that was where you resided, we had no confirmation of such." Miroku watched the set of Inuyasha's shoulders slowly relax. This was almost _too _easy.

Miroku lowered his voice so the ladies would have less of a chance of hearing him and asked in what the others thought of as his 'perverted voice,' "So, since you spent last night with Lady Kagome were you able to get… closer… to her?" Now the normal Inuyasha reaction to such a statement would be an impressive array of stuttering with an intense blush, followed with physical violence to the offender, then leaving immediate the area. So Miroku was totally unprepared for Inuyasha's actual reaction.

Inuyasha took a deep breath as if steadying himself, then shot Miroku a knowing smirk, of all things, and held it for a moment. Then he replied, "Not _last_ night, no," and continued walking.

Miroku froze in shock. _'He…but…I…really?!'_ his thoughts jumbled around his head while his feet stood still. He didn't even notice when the ladies passed him. '_Surely not. He's pulling my leg!'_ Miroku tried to convince himself. _'Yes, because Inuyasha is _known_ for his great sense of humor,_' another part of his mind chimed in.

After Sango and Kagome passed Miroku and didn't hear him following, they also stopped and turned around to see what was wrong. They didn't see anything, but the expression on his face was amusing. He didn't often show stunned disbelief.

"Inuyasha, hold up a minute!" Kagome called out.

Inuyasha stopped and turned around, "Keh, what now?" he grumped.

"Something's up with Miroku," Kagome told him.

Inuyasha looked at Miroku who was still in the same position he had left him. Kagome noticed Inuyasha's eyes start to shine with worry and was not too far from panicking. She frowned, but didn't say anything.

"Oi, monk! Get a move on," Inuyasha tried. Miroku blinked a couple times, but didn't seem inclined to move. Inuyasha sighed, "Fuck, I shoulda known," he muttered to himself. "Sango, snap him out it," he commanded gruffly in a louder voice and turned away to resolutely face the road in front of them.

He had let them get too close. Close enough to hurt. When had he let his walls down? He would have thought that out of everyone _Miroku_ would have accepted him and Kagome together. Hell, he brought it up _all_ the fucking time! And Inuyasha didn't even _tell_ him anything, just hinted! He had been planning on letting Kagome tell those two humans about their mating when they stopped for lunch, but maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Maybe they should just take the runt aside to tell him and leave the humans out of it. If the _perverted_ _monk_ couldn't accept him and Kagome, then the demon-slayer surely wouldn't. Friends or not. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! He couldn't believe that he was so _wrong_ about his traveling companions. Would they still travel with him once they found out? They couldn't hide it forever.

Before he worked himself up enough to just grab Kagome and Shippo then run off, his mate was there and laid a comforting hand on his arm.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked as she looked up to him. "What's wrong?" Kagome had felt a distant swirl of emotions that weren't her own which prompted her to approach her mate. Inuyasha had mentioned that they had some mystical bond, and she suspected that the mix of confusion, anxiety, betrayal, self-recrimination, disappointment, fear, and depression was emanating from her other half. Looking into his eyes, she was _sure_ that she had guessed correctly and was glad she reached him when she did.

Inuyasha glanced back and saw that the monk was moving again and nodded to himself. "Keh, get on," he said as he turned his back to Kagome. Without saying a word, Kagome climbed on and he gripped her legs.

"Oi!" he called back to the rest of the group, "We're going ahead. We'll meet you for lunch." Without waiting for a response, he leapt off with Kagome on his back.

Sango slapped Miroku on the back of the head again. If it worked to snap him out of his daze, then it may work again. "What did you _do_?!" she snapped at him.

"My lovely Sango, you misunderstand!" he protested. "I assure you, I did nothing out of the ordinary." Sango gave an unladylike snort at that statement and crossed her arms to glare at him. How he loved this woman! What do men see in shrinking violets, when thorns make the rose all the more beautiful? "I was merely stunned that our fearless leader told a joke. One that I would have been proud to come up with. My mind needed a moment to adjust to this new world view."

"Inuyasha," Sango stated flatly with disbelief "Inuyasha, the hanyou we hang out with, told a dirty joke? The guy in red with the dog-ears and fangs? Inuyasha."

"See? Now you understand why I had to take a moment."

Sango continued to stare him down. "Maybe you had better start at the beginning. _What happened_?"

"Oh, Sango my dear, I would not want to sully your ears with what men talk about in private."

Sango rolled her eyes and replied, "Since when? Start talking, houshi." She maneuvered Hiraikotsu into a better position in case he needed additional 'persuasion.' Miroku's trained eye caught the movement and he laughed nervously with a hand resting on the back of his neck.

"I was merely inquiring as to his whereabouts last night and if he stayed in Lady Kagome's time. I then asked if they had time to get 'closer.' Now his usual response would be some stuttering and some violence towards my person." Sango nodded in agreement. Miroku continued, "But he didn't do any of that! He smirked and said, 'Well, not _last_ night.' And that's when my mind needed a break."

Sango gasped. "Do you think they really?..." she trailed off and gave Miroku a questioning look.

"I don't know, Sango. I would think it would be more likely that our surly companion was messing with me than it would be for them to actually get together like so."

"Hmm, I would bet on them getting over their problems and getting together rather than Inuyasha developing a sense of humor. And Kagome _did_ mention that she had some news…"

"Ahh! So what's the wager my lovely Sango?"

"Wager? What wager?"

"Why the one for the bet you just made. Of course we _could_ just let the winner decide…" Miroku trailed off with a suggestive look and sly smile towards Sango.

"I don't think so, pervert. And I don't think that's such a good idea. What do you think either one of them would do if they found out we put a bet on their relationship?"

"We will just have to make sure they don't find out."

"No, houshi," she said with a note of finality in her voice. "Shippo, Kirara, let's go. We don't want those two to get too far ahead of us," Sango called out and tried to get everyone moving again. Sometimes she felt sorry for Inuyasha. Trying to get everyone moving in the same direction was sometimes like herding cats. While she was distracted, she felt a hand move across her bottom. The nerve of that pervert!

Sango swung around and slapped Miroku in the face with a yell of "Hentai!" As usual, his head snapped to the side and a red hand print was left on his face.

"You. Walk in front. Now," Sango growled out. He gave her a pleasant smile and headed for the front of their smaller group. He was the only person she knew that could give a friendly smile after just being slapped. She had recently developed a theory that he just needed attention. As soon as she directed her attention elsewhere, like calling for the others, he grabbed her to make her slap him and pay attention to him again.

Once they started moving, he started up a conversation with her while staying ahead of her as she commanded. Sango was going to have to keep an eye on him to see if her theory played out or not.

**Inuyasha and Kagome**

"Oi!" he called back to the rest of the group, "We're going ahead. We'll meet you for lunch." Without waiting for a response, he leapt off with Kagome on his back. Before he was out of hearing range, he heard a familiar slapping sound, but the words that followed were too faint to hear. Using his natural speed, he was able to travel quite a distance with the landscape blurring as he passed.

He hadn't been running for very long before Kagome started gripping him tighter, then let out a moan of discomfort.

"Stop, Inuyasha. Please. Stop," his mate requested. He figured something was wrong, so he slowed then stopped. As soon as he let her down, she ran a short distance away then got sick. That wench said she was fine this morning! He put down her bag and opened it to find her breath-stuff, some water and a spare cloth. Once he gathered everything, he approached Kagome. She was still bent over but it looked like the worst had passed. He put the supplies inside his fire-rat and gently pulled her hair back from her face then started rubbing her back.

"You ok?" he asked in a near whisper. She nodded, but stayed hunched over and spit occasionally. He stayed where he was until she was convinced that she was finished and straightened up again. He pulled the items he stashed inside his clothes out and handed them to her.

"Here," he said gently as he gave her the stuff. She gave him a weak smile and took the stuff to clean up with. Once she was done, she brought her stuff back to the bag and dug around. Eventually she pulled out a small sucker that was meant for Shippo and popped it in her mouth then shoved everything back in enough to get the bag closed. Then she plopped down on the ground, all her energy drained for the moment. Inuyasha sat on his haunches next to her and studied her face.

"You ok?" he repeated, slightly cocking his head to one side.

"Yeah, I think so. It just hit me all of a sudden. Which is weird. I never get motion-sickness… Just let me rest for a little bit. Thank you, by the way."

"Keh," he replied, brushing off the thanks. "We should have stayed in your time. You got sick this morning too."

"Yeah, I remember," she said dryly then shook her head. "Hey, so what got you so upset earlier? Did Miroku do something?"

"Feh," he replied softly. She could see his mood turn more somber than it had been when he was caring for her. Kagome placed a hand on his shoulder and waited for him to speak. If you tried to rush her hanyou, he would tend to clam up.

After several moments of silence, he said very quietly, "I…I don't think we should tell them, Kagome."

"Why not? I thought you was ok with them knowing," she responded softly.

"We'll have to tell the runt, just 'cause he'll smell it otherwise. I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned anything yet. That's another thing. Shippo needs to start training on how to use his abilities. You're gonna have to let me start being more firm with him. No more 'osuwari-ing' me when I try to discipline him," he ended with a firm tone. But Kagome knew a delaying tactic when she heard one. Oh, she didn't doubt that he wanted to talk about Shippo with her, but that was for a different conversation.

"Ok, we'll tell Shippo and we'll talk about parenting methods later. Now, please. What changed your mind about letting Sango and Miroku know?" Kagome was now rubbing _his_ back in a soothing manner.

"Keh! They don't need to know! It's none of their business!" Inuyasha snapped. And Kagome knew that he had made up his mind for now. She might be able to discuss it later, but it was a closed subject at the moment.

"Ok, Inuyasha. We won't tell them," she conceded. She pulled the sucker from her mouth and leaned over to give him a quick kiss. She couldn't help but think that they would find out eventually, but she would humor him.

"I feel better now, if you want to get moving again. But… let's just walk for a while first, ok?" Kagome said. Inuyasha grunted and stood up then offered his hand to Kagome to help her up. She smiled and took it and rose to her feet.

Once they were on the move again, Kagome thought she would try talking to her mate again. "So, what were you saying about Shippo?"

He looked thankful for the change in topic and even reached out to hold her hand and give it a squeeze. "Feh," he said softly and continued in a gentle tone that she wasn't used to hearing from the gruff hanyou. "Look, I know you've adopted the runt and we all pretty much look after him, but there is no denying that he's your pup. I…I just think that he's missing out on lessons that he _needs_ to have in order to survive. Now, don't get mad, but one of those is discipline. If I think he needs punishing for something, he probably does, and you need to let me without saying 'it'. I'm not always just an asshole, you know." His tone had gotten progressively gruffer during his speech with a glare thrown in at the end at her.

"Inuyasha, he's just a child," Kagome protested.

"Yeah, a _youkai_ child, Kagome. And a fox to boot! He's _always_ going to be pressing boundaries to see what he can get away with. It's best to set them now before he _really_ gets out of hand."

"He's _not_ out of hand!"

"Yes he _is_, wench. Not only that, he can't use his abilities worth shit. I know that getting orphaned put a damper on his training, but the brat is so spoiled, he doesn't see the need to learn how to use his damn nose. Much less any abilities he should have by now."

"And how is he supposed to do that?! I don't see any adult kitsune traveling with us, do you?"

By now, they were in their normal arguing positions with their voices getting louder and louder. Kagome was staring up an Inuyasha with her hands on her hips and Inuyasha was towering over her and leaning over slightly to get in her face. The cuddling and kissing was exceptionally nice, but was still new. This was familiar and let them both blow off steam.

"We don't need any fucking adult kitsune, stupid! _I _can teach him, but not if he doesn't listen to me or respect me. All he has to do is call out 'Kagomeee,' and I get osuwari'ed straight to the ground without me getting in a damn word. Why the hell would he listen to the local _joke_ to teach him how to use his fucking senses!"

"You jerk! I _told_ you I would take them off, but NOOOooo. You want to leave them on and then throw it in my face about when I used them!"

"If you didn't use them all the fucking time when Shippo whines about something, then I wouldn't have to!"

"Fine! I'll stop using it! Then you can teach Shippo!"

"Fine!" With that, the argument was over and they both turned away from each other with their arms crossed.

After a moment, they turned towards each other again. Inuyasha reached down and gave Kagome a tender kiss. He pulled back and said in a much calmer tone of voice, "Thanks, Kagome. That helped."

"I thought it might," she smiled up at him, all the heat gone from her voice also. "Thanks for wanting to help out Shippo. Maybe I _have_ been too lenient towards him, and totally unfair to you."

"Damn straight," he replied, copying her earlier phrasing. "Besides, no pup of _mine_ is going to not live up to his abilities."

Kagome gave him a brilliant smile and squeezed him in a hug before grabbing his hand and pulling him along. She decided not to call him on that last statement because she knew it would embarrass him and it was possible that it just slipped out.

"Come on! Isn't it about time for lunch? I'm starving!"

"You were just sick! How could you possibly be hungry?"

"Because now there's no food in there. Duh. Let's find the others so we can eat." Inuyasha just shook his head. He was half-human, but he _still_ couldn't figure humans out sometimes… Or maybe it was just his Kagome that was hard to figure out…


	5. Chapter 5

Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters listed below. They all are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

Chapter 5

Inuyasha and Kagome made it back to the road that they had left earlier and found a shade tree nearby to wait for the others to catch up. They even had a fire started and water heating up for ramen. Kagome had a school book out and Inuyasha was sitting against the tree with his legs stretched out in front of him and his hands resting behind his head. He looked asleep, but Kagome knew better. This was one of his 'I'm-on-sneaky-lookout-duty' poses. Even if she had never seen him use this particular ruse before, she could sense what she supposed was his emotions again, and they were anything but restful. She looked around and couldn't see anyone else around, but then, she _was_ only human.

"Inuyasha?" she asked, out of the blue.

"What, wench?" he grumped, but there wasn't any hostility there.

"Is it safe to talk?" Inuyasha's ears swiveled and his nostrils flared a couple times in response.

"Should be. Just keep your voice down," he replied. There was only one secret they were keeping that she would ask for privacy for. He didn't detect anyone in the area, but if she got too loud, he might not hear someone approach. And if they came from upwind of him, his hearing would be the only thing to warn them.

"How's this?" she asked in a voice just above a whisper. He just nodded to her. She took a deep breath and continued, "When we came through the well this morning, I told Sango I had some news. Since we've decided not to tell them, I still need to tell her _something_. I'm thinking, maybe just tell her that we kissed? Even if we never went further than that, it would be something I'd be jumping up and down to tell her. I can't think of any other 'news' I would just _need_ to share."

Inuyasha was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Kagome nodded, "I'll think up the details then tell you. Try not to find us a hot spring until then, k?" Inuyasha's eyes popped open and looked at Kagome at that statement. Kagome, oh-my-Kami-I-need-a-bath-Kagome, actually asked him to delay finding a hot spring? Kagome saw his reaction and laughed.

"Just for you," she continued while still giggling since she had a feeling she knew what was running through his mind. The tiny, distant feeling of shock helped too.

"Hey, another thing," she started after she was finished giggling, "I think I'm picking up on your emotions. Is that supposed to happen?"

"What do you mean?" he asked guardedly. Kagome stopped and tried to think about how to put the feeling into words.

"Ok, let's say I'm sitting on a fence and everything is right with the world. The sun is shining; I'm talking and laughing with someone while I'm balanced on top of the fence. I'm safe and there's no danger, but in the very, _very_ back of my mind I'm worried that I'll fall, or the fence will break under me, or a whole list of what-if's. I'm happy and content, but _way_ back in my mind there is a sliver of worry. _That's_ what I keep feeling. Something in the very back keeps shifting and I'm picking up on emotions that I'm just not having at that moment. I think that's the only reason I'm not just assuming they're mine." She stopped there, not wanting to mention the Miroku-incident. He _still_ hadn't told her what _that _was about. Maybe she could get the other side from Sango later and be able to piece together what went through her hanyou's mind.

"Keh," he replied. Mostly just to let her know he heard as he processed what she said. Was a mating bond able to _do_ that? He just didn't know. He never asked Myoga because he never figured he'd have a mate. He already told her what he knew, and that was just some stuff he picked up over the years.

"I dunno, Kagome. I haven't noticed anything emotion-related, but then I don't have emotions like humans do. Next time we see that fucking flea, he should be able to give us some answers."

"Nothing emotion-related? Have you noticed something else?" Kagome asked curiously.

"Well…even without my senses, I can tell exactly where you are. It's like there's an invisible line pointing right to you," he confessed.

"Huh. I hadn't noticed that one… Think there'll be anything else?" Kagome asked. Inuyasha just shrugged and they both fell quiet. A moment later and one of his ears twitched.

"Oi, we got company," he announced, but didn't get up and draw his sword. Kagome supposed that meant that their group was coming close to them, and it was time to act like their relationship hadn't had a momentous leap forward.

Kagome went ahead and poured the hot water into the ramen cups to let it cook the dried noodles. A minute or so later, the four friends they left behind walked into their little lunch area and sat down.

Sango picked up a cup of noodles and asked, "Everything ok, you two?" while she got situated. Miroku started to sit next to her, but she shot him a glare and he chose to sit just a little further away with his own cup of ramen.

Kagome was handing Inuyasha the two cups she prepared for him and he just grunted in answer to Sango's question as he accepted the ramen. Kagome just shook her head and answered for the both of them.

"We're fine, Sango. We just wanted to scout ahead a little," she said, attempting to brush the question aside as she grabbed her own ramen. When she sat down, Shippo sat next to her with his own cup. She smiled down at him and joined in with the friendly conversation everyone was engaged in. Well, everyone except Inuyasha. He was eating, but seemed to be ignoring everyone. If he was asked a direct question, all they got out of him was a "Feh."

After a few minutes, Kagome realized that Shippo wasn't eating anymore. She glanced down and saw that his cup was still half-full, but it seemed to be forgotten in his hands. Shippo had a small frown of concentration on his face and his nose was twitching while facing her. It looked like he finally picked up her changed scent and was trying to identify it. She threw a glance at Inuyasha to see that he was watching the two of them. He nodded slightly and she gave a small smile in response. Here goes…

"Hey Shippo, I think I saw some plants a little way off the road that Kaede said was good for cleaning wounds. Why don't you come with me and we can collect some?"

"Ok, Kagome!" Shippo exclaimed, happy to help out. He jumped up, ready to follow.

"I can go with you," Sango offered, and started to stand.

"No, no, that's ok!" Kagome said hurriedly. At the confused look Sango gave her, she tried to come up with a reason for Sango to let them go off alone. Ugh, she sure was having to come up with a lot of stories for being an honest person… "Umm, Inuyasha mentioned something about trying to cover a lot of distance after lunch. I've been resting a while already, so you two go ahead and rest up! We'll be right back, then we can head out. Come on, Shippo," she said as she grabbed the kit up and walked quickly away from their camp.

Sango and Miroku watched curiously as she walked away. "That was odd…" Sango commented quietly. Miroku nodded in agreement, then turned his attention to the quiet hanyou.

"So, Inuyasha, is there a goal in mind for us to have to cover a lot of distance this afternoon?" Miroku asked.

"Keh. The more distance we cover, the more likely we'll find a jewel shard," he replied, falling back on a standard answer. "Oi, you two get this cleaned up and ready to move. I'm going to go hurry the wench along. Probably wasting time picking fucking flowers…" he grumbled, while in reality he wanted to meet with Kagome so they could tell Shippo their news together. Before waiting for an answer, he jumped off after his mate.

Miroku and Sango watched him leave then looked at each other. "Does it feel like we're missing out on something to you too?" Sango asked. Miroku nodded again and Kirara mewed in answer from her spot on Sango's shoulder.

"Hopefully the next time you lovely ladies get a chance to bathe together Lady Kagome will shed some light on what is going on."

"Yeah, maybe…" Sango agreed. "Come on, houshi; let's get everything packed up, so Inuyasha doesn't get in one of his moods again." Miroku nodded and stood up to help clean their temporary camp. Neither human noticed that Kirara was staring off in the direction the other half of the group wondered off to. And even if they did, they wouldn't have noticed the look of satisfied approval on her feline features.

Kagome carried Shippo away from the others until she couldn't hear them anymore then found a comfortable place to sit ignoring the plants that surrounded the area. She set Shippo down and took a seat. Shippo looked confused that they weren't gathering any leaves and asked about it.

"I guess I was mistaken, Shippo. These don't look like the plants Kaede showed me after all," Kagome answered distractedly. Was Inuyasha coming, or did he want her to tell Shippo by herself?

"Then shouldn't we head back, Kagome? Sounds like dummy Inuyasha is coming to get us anyway," Shippo replied. Well, that answered _that_ question, but first things first…

"Shippo!" she snapped. "You need to stop calling Inuyasha names. What have I told you about respecting your elders?"

"Elders, smelders," Inuyasha replied before Shippo could as he landed in front of the two, "Who gives a rat's ass about elders? You need to respect the pack leader."

Shippo gave him a sidelong glance, and with the confidence that Kagome would protect him, gave another little dig, "What? I respect Kagome!"

Before anyone could blink, Inuyasha was on top of Shippo, growling with his hand around his neck and Shippo pressed to the ground. Shippo blinked, and then started squirming, attempting to break his hold. Kagome opened her mouth to say something, but Inuyasha interrupted before any words came out.

"Not now, Bitch," he growled out. But he did look up at her and give her a wink to let her know he had everything under control. She closed her mouth and trusted him to handle things like she promised him she would. It was just difficult seeing her baby treated like this.

Shippo was surprised on several different levels. Inuyasha had never asserted his authority like this for one, and Kagome hadn't said anything about it for another. Not even when Inuyasha had called her a 'bitch!' That used to be crater territory. He kept struggling though, hoping that Kagome would eventually come to his rescue.

Inuyasha pressed his hand a bit more tightly against Shippo's neck. He didn't want to hurt the runt, but he needed to submit. This 'conversation' had been long overdue, but with the constant threat of being osuwari'ed along with suppressing his canine-side, it just hadn't happened. And the runt was getting out of control because of it.

After the longest five minutes of Kagome's life, Shippo finally submitted to Inuyasha and went limp. She was honestly surprised she didn't have blood in her mouth from the many times she had to bite her tongue.

Inuyasha lightened the pressure on the kit's neck and growled, "Say it!"

Shippo met his eyes, then quickly looked away. He swallowed and replied quietly, "You're the Alpha, Inuyasha." Once he said the words, Inuyasha removed his hand and moved back to sit on his haunches. Shippo slowly got up off the ground and looked around. He saw Inuyasha give Kagome a nod, then she turned towards him.

"Hey Shippo," she started, like there hadn't been a canine dominance display right in front of her a moment ago, "we wanted to talk to you privately."

"Yeah, I can see why…" he grumbled while rubbing his neck. It didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable.

"Feh, that wasn't the reason. That was for being a smart-ass," Inuyasha grumped. Kagome shot him a glare, but didn't say anything.

"Anyway!" Kagome brought the attention back on herself, "We're going to tell you something, but you have to keep it quiet. We're not ready for Sango and Miroku to know, and our enemies absolutely can't find out about it. Think you can keep the secret with us?" she asked slyly. She knew she could get cooperation by adding a little bit of intrigue. Her kit was a sucker for it. Probably had to do with his trickster nature…

"Yeah, Kagome! You can count on me!" Shippo enthused, excited by the prospect of sharing a secret with Kagome.

"Ok, Shippo. Here goes. Inuyasha and I are mates now!" Kagome told him. Shippo looked at her with wide eyes, then looked at Inuyasha. Inuyasha gave him a half-smile and pushed up one of his sleeves to show Shippo his mating mark. When he saw that, Inuyasha was surprised to see a huge smile light up the kit's face.

"It's about time!" Shippo exclaimed. "I was beginning to think you two would _never_ get mated!" He jumped up on Kagome and gave her a hug, then leapt to Inuyasha to do the same. He made sure he jumped down quickly enough that he didn't get bopped on the head in case Inuyasha was still in a mood. But he wanted to hug the both of them, so he did.

Inuyasha wouldn't have hit him, but that was mostly because he was stunned by the runt's reaction. He was honestly expecting a full-blown tantrum that would boil down to him getting more of Kagome's attention. He _wasn't_ expecting excitement, a slight reprimand, and a _hug_ of all things.

"Are you gonna have kits? Can I be their big brother?! I'll be a good brother, you watch! You're gonna stay here with us, right, Kagome?" Shippo fired off questions while jumping up and down in his excitement. Kagome just laughed at his antics.

"Yes, Shippo. We don't know what'll happen when the jewel gets purified, but we'll try our best to stay here. And we'll talk about kids after we defeat Naraku, ok? And I'm sure you'll be the best big brother in the world!"

They let Shippo burn off some of his excited energy, then headed back to the others. The camp was packed up, so they headed out. Sango and Miroku didn't say anything about the lack of herbs the group brought back, but they _did_ share a glance with each other.

Not too long after they started walking again, Kagome gasped and brought a hand to her chest. Everyone turned to look at her.

"I think I sense a jewel shard. That way," she said as she pointed in a direction off the road they were traveling. Without discussing anything, the group detoured in the direction she pointed. Kagome also made her way to the front of their group to walk alongside Inuyasha to help guide him.

As they headed in that direction, Inuyasha began to notice something. He knew that he could tell where Kagome was at all times, but now it seemed like that same sensation was coming from two directions. The strong one from Kagome next to him, of course, but a fainter sensation was coming from the direction they were heading. It felt like Kagome was in two places at once. Every time Kagome made an adjustment to their route, it was in the direction he felt the sensation from. Out of curiosity, Inuyasha deliberately headed in a direction that the pull wasn't coming from. Within a minute, Kagome corrected his course back towards the pull.

Inuyasha frowned and looked down at Kagome walking beside him. She must have sensed him looking at her, because she looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, asking him 'What?' without words. He turned an ear to face behind him and determined that everyone else was far enough back and wrapped up in their own conversation.

He leaned down and whispered, "Let me lead. I want to test something. If I get too far off, poke me and you can lead again." Kagome gave him a confused look, but nodded and stopped giving directions.

After a half-hour and avoiding several obstacles, Inuyasha glanced at Kagome to see if he was still heading in the right direction. She caught his eye and gave a slow nod.

He leaned down to whisper again, "Oi, wait awhile then start whining about needing a break. We'll argue with a possible osuwari, but we'll stop. We need to talk." She smiled up at him and gently hit his shoulder like he had just said something that amused her, gave him a wink and fell back to talk to the others.

"Oh, Kagome! Thank goodness you came back here!" Inuyasha heard Sango exclaim. "The houshi has been trying to slip into _those_ kind of stories again." Kagome just laughed, then began talking animatedly with the rest of the group. Every now and then, she slipped in a comment about her shoes, laying the groundwork for their little show. Sneaky wench…

They entered a clearing and Kagome started, "Hey, Inuyasha, why don't we rest here for a minute?"

"Keh, no way, wench. We can't let that jewel shard get away."

"Oh, it's not moving. And even if it _was_ we'd still catch up to it," she waved off dismissively.

"You just rested! It hasn't been all that long since lunch! Surely you weak humans can make it a little further than this?!" Inuyasha let some frustration leak into his voice.

"We've been walking _forever_, and you can't honestly call this a road!" Kagome started raising her voice. She had to make it convincing after all. Sure enough, she heard a couple frustrated sighs behind her and knew they were buying it. "Some of us are starting to get blisters, you know!"

"Keh! I'll carry you if _that's_ the problem, wench."

"The _problem_ is that we're tired and need a break!" Kagome took her normal 'and-I-mean-it!' stance with feet spread, fists on her hips, and leaning forward slightly.

"We're _not_ stopping here, wench! You can forget it!" Inuyasha nearly yelled at her.

"Yes. We. Are! _I'm_ taking a break, and you can't do anything about it! Hmmph!" With that, Kagome plopped down on the ground right where she was and crossed her arms and lifted her nose in the air. Inuyasha started stomping over to her like he intended to pick her up and toss her over his shoulder. When he started stomping, Kagome shot him a quick glare and snapped, "Osuwari!"

"Gah!" Inuyasha exclaimed as the rosary pulled him to the ground. He started grumbling and cursing to keep up the act. He was the only one that saw the apologetic look in Kagome's eyes when she said the word, but he wanted her to activate it for realisms sake. Once the spell let him up, he sat up and crossed his arms and looked disgruntled.

"Fine! But don't get comfortable! We're moving soon!" Then he stood up and jumped up in a tree to 'sulk.' Now that the show was over, the other humans also sat down to take a break. Kagome took some water bottles out of her backpack and passed them around. Shippo was giving her a strange look, as he was trying to figure out what the fighting was about. When Kagome was sure that neither Sango nor Miroku were looking, she gave the kit a wink. His eyes widened in realization and he just smiled at her before going off to play with Kirara.

After a few moments, Kagome mentioned she had to use the 'little girl's bush' while standing up. She shot Miroku a warning glare. Sango noticed and laughed.

"Don't worry, Kagome. I'll keep him here," she reassured her friend. Kagome nodded and left the clearing on the opposite side of where they were sitting.

She kept walking until Inuyasha dropped down beside her. She didn't even jump, just turned to face him. Before he could say anything though, she threw her arms around him and gave him a passionate kiss. He replied by putting his arms around her and pulling her closer. Eventually they pulled away for air and rested their foreheads against each other while panting to catch their breath.

"Oh, Kami, Inuyasha," Kagome said quietly, but forcefully. She wasn't sure how far from the others they really were. "We can't do that too often. My blood starts boiling and then I just want you."

"Keh! That's not a convincing reason to stop," he smirked and kissed her again. They pulled away again, but stayed wrapped in each other's arms.

"What's up?" Kagome asked him. "And why'd you make me say 'it?' I'm sorry, by the way."

"Feh, you know how stubborn we are. That _used_ to be the only way I'd compromise, and we need to keep up appearances for a while."

"How stubborn _we_ are?" Kagome asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Keh, don't give me that. We wouldn't butt heads near as much if either of us was less stubborn." Kagome smiled, but didn't say anything. "Here, I want to try something. Close your eyes," he commanded. Kagome looked at him slightly suspiciously, but closed her eyes. He stepped away from her, but continued holding one of her hands. He rotated Kagome slightly to the right and raised her hand to point in the direction he was feeling that odd sensation from.

"That way?" he asked. Kagome gasped and opened her eyes to look at him.

"You can sense them too?" she asked in disbelief.

"I…I don't know. I _think_ so…" he trailed off.

"Well, you wanna test it?" she asked as she pulled off the bottle 'necklace' where she kept there shards not waiting for an answer. "Close your eyes and hold your nose," she commanded. Inuyasha was curious if he was really sensing the shards or not, so decided to play her little game and closed his eyes and pinched his nose.

As soon as he held his nose, his ears started moving nearly uncontrollably. Inuyasha hoped she hurried with whatever she was up to because he felt very vulnerable without his nose. He was able to hear where she was and kept an ear on her while she rustled around the area. His nerves finally got to him and he let go of his nose. Kagome could just deal.

Kagome finished her little plan. She had walked to several areas and rustled the bushes or the leaves on the ground, and left the bottle of jewel shards at one of the locations. She turned and saw that he wasn't holding his nose as she asked, but she shrugged. With her touching the different possible locations, her scent shouldn't be a deciding factor in finding them. She walked up until she was next to him.

"Ok, Inuyasha, you can open your eyes. Can you find them?" Inuyasha opened his eyes and was surprised that the pull he thought was from their mating bond was no longer coming from Kagome, but from in front of him. He merely pointed in the direction he felt the pull from, then raised an eyebrow at her. She nodded with a smile. "Can you tell how far away they are? Can you _see_ them, or just sense them?"

"No, I can't see them right now. Can you?" he asked her. She nodded. "Naw," he continued, "I can tell that they're in that direction and kinda close, but not much more than that."

"Get a little closer and see if you can find them. I hid them from sight so they shouldn't give themselves away," Kagome prompted. He grunted, but started in that direction. Once he got within a couple feet, he stopped.

"I can tell that they're here," he said while scanning the area, "just not where…"

"Ok, can you tell how many there are?" she asked.

"Well, that doesn't count. I _know_ how many we have."

"Fine," Kagome said and went to retrieve the bottle. Once she had it, she opened it and took out a few without showing Inuyasha. She recapped the bottle then tossed it to the side. "Ok, how many are in my hand, and how many are in the bottle?" Inuyasha looked back and forth a couple times, then shrugged.

"I think that there are more in your hand than in the bottle, but I can't put a number to it," he finally answered.

"That's right. You might be able to tell later after you get some practice in. Looks like your shard detector still has a job!" Kagome teased as she retrieved the shard bottle. Inuyasha walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist while pulling her to him.

He nuzzled the side of her neck and murmured, "She was never in danger of losing it." He started pleasuring the side of her neck and was getting lost in her scent.

"Inuyasha," Kagome moaned out, "I need to get back. I was only supposed to be relieving myself, remember…"

"Fuck," Inuyasha moaned in reply, but did slowly let her go.

She smirked up at him, "As soon as we can find time and privacy."


	6. Chapter 6

Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters listed below. They all are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

Chapter 6

Kagome sighed as she dug the first aid kit and a roll of gauze out of her backpack using the late afternoon light. It had been a long day of emotional turmoil, half-truths, lies, and a fight with a youkai to top it all off. If hiding their relationship was going to put _this_ much of a strain on her, she would _have_ to convince Inuyasha that it would be ok to tell Sango and Miroku.

She handed Sango the first-aid kit after removing a tube of anti-bacterial ointment. Everyone got a little scuffed up with the fight for the jewel shard against a locust youkai, so they decided to make camp early. Kagome figured that Sango could handle the small cuts she and Miroku obtained while Kagome dealt with her stubborn hanyou mate.

"Ok, Inuyasha," Kagome said as she approached him with the roll of gauze and the tube of medicine, "Let me see."

"Keh!" Inuyasha crossed his arms into his sleeves, "I ain't hurt, wench! I'm tougher than some weak humans."

"Don't give me that. I _saw_ the fight, remember? Now, let me see," she demanded. Inuyasha huffed and grumbled, but removed his fire-rat haori. Just as she suspected, there was blood on his white kosode. He started to remove that too, then paused and looked in Sango and Miroku's direction. They weren't looking in his direction, so he finished taking it off, but left it bunched up on his arm that held his mating mark. Kagome held up the gauze and raised an eyebrow, asking him if he wanted her to wrap that too. His eyes shifted to the rest of the pack for a second, then he took his arm out and let her wrap it.

Kagome deftly wrapped his forearm and hid her name. Her fingers brushed the area once and it caused both of them to shiver. She'd have to remember that for later. When she was done with the deceptive wrapping, she turned to his actual injuries. He had a pretty nasty cut in the upper part of his sword arm and in that same shoulder. In the Inuyasha-scale of things, he was right in that he wasn't hurt. However, if a 'weak human' had these same cuts, they would need stitches and a lot of bed rest.

As Kagome gingerly applied her anti-bacterial goop to his wounds, Inuyasha muttered, "You know you're just wasting that crap."

Kagome smirked at him and replied quietly enough where only demonic ears could hear, "Well, how _else_ would I get a chance to run my hands across your body, dummy?"

"Keh!" Inuyasha replied while a blush instantly colored his cheeks as he looked away. Kagome just smiled as she continued wrapping up his arm and shoulder. She used the opportunity to caress some of his uninjured chest while applying the wrapping, so it took her longer than usual to wrap him up. She eventually finished and gave him permission to get dressed again.

Kagome moved away to treat her own scraped knees and Inuyasha checked the position of the sun. He saw that there was still _some_ daylight left. His pack had fought today, so they could use something a bit more substantial than ramen. He would never admit it because he loved the stuff, but he knew that the humans needed more nutrition than the heavenly noodles could provide. With that in mind, he stood and started in the direction of a spring he smelled nearby in the hopes of catching fish or maybe a small boar if he was lucky. He stopped and glanced back at Shippo. The kit was sitting on the ground looking bored and using a stick to make idle drawings in the dirt while everyone bustled around him. Well, no time like the present to start training…

"Oi, runt," Inuyasha called. When Shippo looked up, Inuyasha nodded his head in the way he was heading as an invitation. Shippo looked confused, but stood and walked toward Inuyasha. When he got close, Inuyasha gave a curt nod and started heading off again letting the kit follow him. Once they got out of sight of the camp, Inuyasha stopped and waited for Shippo to catch up.

"You're gonna start pulling your weight 'round here, runt," Inuyasha started in his gruff manner. No need the kit thinking he was going soft or nothin'. "You're gonna start helping me hunt. Now, let's head to the water." Inuyasha stood there with his arms crossed, waiting for Shippo to start moving. He figured that detecting the water was a good test of the runt's senses.

Shippo puffed his chest out with pride that Inuyasha considered him old enough to help with the hunting. He stood waiting for Inuyasha to lead the way. They both stood staring at each other for a moment bordering on awkward. Finally, Inuyasha raised an eyebrow silently asking, 'Well?' Shippo deflated and scrunched up an eye in confusion.

"Are…aren't we going?" Shippo asked hesitantly. Inuyasha sighed and resisted the urge to bop him. Who said he didn't have self-control?

"Start walking, Shippo," he growled out, "How the hell do you expect to go hunting if you can't even fucking find water?"

"I can _too_ find water!" Shippo yelled.

"Keh, prove it," Inuyasha snapped.

"I will!" Shippo yelled back and started storming off. In the wrong direction. The runt didn't even take a sniff of the air before moving. '_This is worse than I thought_…' Inuyasha bemoaned as he grabbed the kit by the tail and lifted him up to his eye level. Shippo opened his mouth to protest, but then just crossed his arms and pouted.

"You've been hanging out with humans too long. Use your fucking nose. The water's that way," Inuyasha pointed in the direction he was originally heading while twisting Shippo around to face the proper way. He plopped Shippo on his shoulder and started walking towards the spring.

When they got close enough that they could see the spring, Inuyasha detected that they were crossing a game trail and that a deer had passed by in the last day or so. Figuring he could test Shippo again, he reached up, grabbed him by the tail and dropped him on the ground.

"Tell me what you smell," Inuyasha demanded as he crossed his arms. Shippo opened his mouth to quickly respond, but Inuyasha interrupted, "and _not_ something that you can see. Who or what has been through here? And how long ago?" The runt looked at him with wide eyes, probably surprised that Inuyasha expected him to know the answer. _Finally_ he sniffed to pick up the scent Inuyasha had been hinting about. Shippo slowly walked in a small circle trying to find the scent. After a while, he shook his head.

"I can't tell…" Shippo said quietly. Inuyasha ran a hand across his face in frustration. _'It's not the runt's fault… His dad died and he was taken in by a bunch of humans… Not _all_ his fault, anyway,' _Inuyasha reminded himself. Inuyasha sat on his haunches to get a little closer to Shippo's level.

"Ok, do this," Inuyasha started. How the hell was he gonna teach this crap? He had been _forced_ to learn in a do-or-die situation so it was all instinctual. "Close your eyes, and breathe in. Hold it and try to sort everything out. Tell me what you can identify."

"Um….ok…" Shippo replied and did as he suggested. Once he breathed out he said, "Water, trees, dirt, you, um…" he trailed off. "An animal?..."

"Feh, you're not gonna be much help hunting if _that's_ all that youkai nose of yours is telling you. I might as well take Sango instead. At least _she_ knows how to walk quietly," Inuyasha goaded. He had noticed that the best way for _him_ to get Shippo to do stuff was to turn it around on the kit.

Sure enough, Shippo's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "No! No, I can do it! I'll get better, I promise!"

"Feh, how?" Inuyasha asked dismissively.

"Can…can you train me? Please, Inuyasha! I'll be a good learner!" And there it was. Inuyasha knew he had the trickster by the tail now.

"You'll do as I say? No whining to Kagome? I eat dirt because of you just once, the training's over. I'll let you grow up as a human with a tail." He wouldn't of course, but the kit didn't need to know that. He had also thought of a plan that would force the runt to use senses other than his sight. It wasn't do-or-die like his _own_ childhood, but do-or-be-humiliated-in-front-of-the-pack should work just as well.

"I promise! Will you teach me?" Shippo asked hopefully. Should it be _this_ easy to trick a trickster? Maybe the kit needed training in _that_ too. Kami, _what_ had he taken on… First things first though.

"Fine," Inuyasha replied and shot his hand to the back of Shippo's head. Shippo flinched as he thought he was about to receive another knot on his head. Instead, Inuyasha pulled the blue ribbon out of his hair that he kept it pulled back with. He gasped as his red hair fell to his shoulders.

"Inuyasha, wha-"

"Come 'ere," Inuyasha interrupted. Shippo approached and Inuyasha tied the ribbon around the kit's head, covering his eyes. "Three days, runt. I want you to keep that over your eyes for three days unless _I_ say otherwise. And no 'carry me, I'm small and pathetic' either. Got it? You're gonna use your fucking nose and ears."

Shippo nodded and stood still. Inuyasha noticed that his nose was finally twitching like it should be in new areas. Good, maybe this would work after all. Inuyasha grunted in approval and told Shippo to stay put as he wandered into the stream to catch some fish. Not enough time for real hunting with the kit along.

In no time at all, Inuyasha had caught enough fish for the pack for the night with an extra one for Kirara. He was thinking of asking her for a favor later, and bribes never hurt anybody. Before leaving, he dunked himself in the water and splashed water on his face to remove any dried blood or sweat from their earlier fight. He also removed the flesh-colored paint on his cheeks Kagome had applied that morning for him and that he had forgotten all about. He got out and shook himself dry causing Shippo to yelp in surprise.

"You smell like wet dog," Shippo complained as Inuyasha came towards him with the fish.

"Keh, keep it up and you'll smell like wet fox," he sniped back. "Here," Inuyasha grunted as he handed Shippo a couple of the smaller fish. Shippo groped, but found them and held on to them as he followed Inuyasha back to camp. Inuyasha made sure to go slow so the kit wouldn't lose his trail.

When they got closer to camp, Inuyasha heard Miroku telling a story about some con he pulled with Hachi that went wrong. They were all laughing and relaxing. He stopped and looked back at Shippo who was doing a good job keeping up even with a couple fish under his nose.

"You hear them? Scent them?" Inuyasha asked the kit. Shippo nodded. Inuyasha suppressed a smile. The runt _did_ look funny with his eyes bound like that… "Who's closest to us?" Inuyasha quizzed.

Shippo's nose twitched for a bit then he replied, "Kagome?"

Inuyasha heard the questioning tone of his voice so asked, "You sure?" Shippo was silent a moment, then nodded his head. "Feh, you're right. Go on," Inuyasha told him. Shippo shot him a smile that was usually saved for Kagome, then headed to camp. Inuyasha smirked at his own cleverness and followed.

Back at camp, Shippo came through the bushes behind Kagome and interrupted Miroku's story. The three humans looked at him with his blindfold on, but of course, he didn't notice the stares.

"Kagome, look! We caught some fish!" he exclaimed as he held up the two he carried while facing slightly to the left of where Kagome sat. Yeah, so he had only been there when _Inuyasha_ caught the fish, but nearness counted. "Inuyasha has the rest," he explained to keep them from worrying about the lack of food he carried.

"Shippo?" Sango started, trying to keep from laughing, "Why are your eyes bound?" He obviously wasn't hurt or he wouldn't be so cheerful.

"I'm in training," he explained proudly as he puffed his chest up. He didn't see the need to tell them that he was only training because he turned out to be a disappointment on the hunting trip.

"I see," Miroku started, "and just what is…" he trailed off and got very still, his eyes trained on something just behind Kagome. Sango looked from Shippo to Miroku when he trailed off, then looked to see what had caught his attention. She gasped and she could feel color draining from her face as she also became very still and mentally began planning the fastest way to grip and throw Hiraikotsu if needed.

Behind Kagome stood Youkai Inuyasha. He was looking down at either Kagome or Shippo and still holding the fish they had just caught. All she could see was the purple stripes on his cheeks because his hair hid his eyes and the lower half of his face was in shadows. She inched her hand towards Hiraikotsu and could tell that Miroku was slowly reaching for some of his ofuda. They had to be ready to react at a moment's notice if Youkai Inuyasha decided to attack.

Youkai Inuyasha must have noticed them moving or the change in atmosphere because his head snapped up and looked at Sango and Miroku. Instead of blood-red eyes and a feral expression, they saw his normal golden eyes staring at them with a disgruntled expression on his face. Even in the face of his ire, they both let out a sigh of relief.

"What?!" he barked at them and started staring them down. Kagome had been watching their reaction as well and had been trying to sense what they saw, but could only sense her mate. She turned to look at him and saw the problem. His youkai crests were showing. He must have wiped off the makeup somehow.

"Inuyasha," she said softly. He glanced at her and she pointed a finger to her cheeks. He stared at her blankly for a moment before his eyes widened in realization and the hand not holding the fish came up to his own cheek. '_I must have washed that shit off in the spring. Dammit… At least that explains the nervous scent when I showed up, along with the hint of fear.'_

Sango and Miroku exchanged a look, then Miroku spoke up, "Well, my friend, it seems that you have a new facial feature that we have only rarely seen. Care to tell us how you came to acquire it?"

"Feh, ain't none of your business, monk," Inuyasha tried to brush off as he set the fish down for them to start cleaning.

"Ah, well as there is a small chance that it concerns the safety of you, my lovely Sango, the Lady Kagome, young Shippo, and myself, I _do_ believe that it is _some_ business of mine," Miroku retorted.

"Dammit!" Inuyasha snapped, "I…I transformed, ok?! These _things_ didn't go away afterwards," he gestured to his face.

"Really?" Sango asked. "When was this? And why didn't we see them before?"

Inuyasha studied Sango for a moment. Besides himself, she was the person most knowledgeable about youkai in their pack. She _might_ be able to tell him about some of the mating stuff that he didn't know without them having to wait for Myoga to show his cowardly hide. When their cover gets blown, as he knew it would eventually, maybe they could get some answers from her. He sighed and decided to answer her.

"Feh, a day or two after we split up. Kagome didn't want people in her time to notice and had some face-paint to cover them up. I'd forgotten about it, actually…"

"You were wearing face-paint earlier?" Sango asked, amazed. "I couldn't even tell. I thought most face-paints are white? You're darker than that, Inuyasha…" she trailed off.

Kagome laughed, bringing the attention to her which Inuyasha was eternally grateful for. Maybe he would give _her_ the extra fish instead… He could bribe Kirara with the _promise_ of an extra one the next time. He sat quietly cleaning the fish hoping that he would be ignored for a while.

"I forgot about that," Kagome started enigmatically, "Makeup is different in my time. Instead of it being for actors or geishas to make their faces stand out, we mostly use it to enhance our natural features. What I used on Inuyasha is skin colored and helps cover up zits or freckles and evens out the skin tone."

"Enhance natural features, you say," Miroku replied while rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "I must question why you would own any of that face-paint Lady Kagome. Surely you are not in need of it." Miroku started to nod sagely as he saw Lady Kagome blush when the effect was ruined as a fish hit him in the side of the head.

Kagome and Sango both instantly doubled over laughing at Miroku's stunned face with the added touch of fish scales dotting his cheek. Shippo was busy pouting because he couldn't see anything and had missed all the excitement. Nobody noticed the low growl coming from Inuyasha.

Inuyasha was trying his best to calm down. He _knew_ the monk didn't mean anything by it, but just the fact that he was openly _flirting_ with his mate had made his blood start to boil. Miroku was lucky that there was something like the fish nearby to throw at him. Otherwise, it could have been his claws. '_Miroku's a friend, he didn't mean it. He's not after Kagome, he's after Sango. I can't hurt him, he's a pack mate. I can't kill him, he's my beta. He's under my protection…can't hurt him… Fuck this, I'm outta here…'_ Inuyasha stood, took a couple running steps and hurled himself into the overhead canopy to put some distance between himself and the bouzu. He traveled as high as the trees would let him and tried to relax while keeping an ear trained on his pack below.

That evening, Inuyasha joined the rest of the group once the fish were done cooking. He'd occasionally shoot a glare at Miroku, but Miroku was playing it as safe as he could by staying away from Kagome while she studied. Every now and then Kagome or Sango would see a bit of firelight reflect off of a fish scale that Miroku had been unable to wipe from his cheek and they would giggle.

"So, Inuyasha…," Sango started after they had all sat in comfortable silence for a while. "I've been thinking about your crests. You said you transformed a day or two after we split up, correct?" Inuyasha didn't reply, but he didn't tell her to mind her own damn business, so she took that as permission to continue. "It did not occur to me until after we had arrived in the taijiya village, but it may have something to do with that oni with the club we fought. Other taijiya have fought that type of oni before and have always worn their masks to do so because of the effects that its club produces. It actually makes a dust that has differing effects on youkai or humans. It tends to throw the body out of balance in some way. Maybe you inhaled some of that oni's dust, Inuyasha."

"Keh," Inuyasha answered non-committedly. But he did share a glance with Kagome. He knew damn well he had breathed in that dust because he was trying to figure out what was happening to Kagome at the time. Hell, maybe that fucking dust brought his youkai half closer to the surface. That could explain the control issues he'd been fighting. Kagome _was_ ok now though, right? She had only seemed affected those first couple days… This was definitely something to think about, at least until he could find that damn flea to ask about their mating.

His chain of thought was interrupted by an impressive growl from Kagome, right before she threw her book into the bushes near her. "I can't understand a thing in there! Ooohhh, I _hate_ algebra!" Kagome stood up to move around and work off some of her anger. She continued to vent, "Who _cares_ if ex equals negative be plus or minus the square root of be squared minus four ay see divided by two ay. When _in the world_ will I _ever_ use that?!" She continued to stomp around the campsite oblivious to the questioning looks she was getting.

"Did…did Kagome just cast a spell?" the blindfolded Shippo asked, confused. "Did it do anything?"

"Nothing appears to have happened, Shippo, but I don't know if Lady Kagome was casting a spell or not. I have not heard the incantation before," Miroku answered.

"Oi, runt," Inuyasha called while Kagome continued to fume. "Go get her book, will ya?" Shippo nervously stood up. He wasn't sure he could detect one of Kagome's books, and with Kagome moving all around the campsite, her scent was everywhere. Inuyasha knew he had given the kit a challenge, but it was better training than just having him sit on his ass all night.

"Hey Kagome," Sango tried to get the upset miko's attention. When Kagome glanced in her direction, she continued, "Did you bring your playing cards? I'm not quite ready for sleep yet. How about you, houshi?"

"Why I do believe that is a wonderful idea, my lovely Sango. What game from the future will Lady Kagome suggest we play? Or perhaps it's time for a new game to be learned. What do you say, Lady Kagome?" Miroku said as he jumped on Sango's idea to get their friend's mind off of the studies that were troubling her.

"Sure guys, I brought my cards," Kagome replied, having calmed down some by now. That and she wasn't going to study any more tonight anyway. Stupid algebra…

"Oh, I know!" she exclaimed brightly as she pulled the cards out of her bag. Her lips twitched a bit as she tried not to laugh, "We can play Go Fish!"

Sango laughed again as Miroku just sighed and hung his head. Kagome laughed as well and saw Inuyasha smirk slightly even as his eyes danced with laughter. She gave him a brilliant smile before she began shuffling the deck.


End file.
